National Infrastructure Commission unveils plan to wreck UK

Lord Andrew Adonis broke cover on BBC radio 4 this morning to tell us about the new National Infrastructure Commission’s plans for making our country vulnerable to massive power cuts. This will be achieved by making the UK dependent on undersea electrical extension leads plugged into Iceland, Denmark and other EU countries wind power systems, continuing to shut down our traditional power generation capacity and the installation of smart meters which talk to new white-goods everyone will have to buy. A lot of the plan is predicated on ‘demand reduction’ and ‘storage’ (although details of that were not forthcoming).

The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) envisages a smart energy revolution with more cables linking the National Grid to mainland Europe.

NIC also says the UK needs to store much more energy from intermittent renewable like wind and solar.

Fridges, freezers and washing machines could play a part, they say.

Experts believe it is the first step to a full-scale “Internet of Energy”, with web-enabled home appliances like freezers and washing machines linked to the grid.

Here’s how it would work: At a time of peak demand, an energy firm’s computer will contact your smart freezer to ask if power can be switched off for a few minutes to allow your neighbour to use some of the energy to cook dinner.

Your well-insulated freezer will stay cold without electricity for a while, so it will agree to power down.

You will be rewarded with a credit on your energy bill.

Professor Phil Taylor from Newcastle University said: “If you unravelled the National Grid it would stretch to the moon and back. We can’t afford to renew it even if we wanted to.”

“This report is progressive,” he said. “It’s the right way to go – delivering savings through flexibility rather than more infrastructure.”

So there you have it. A vital function, headed up by a history graduate who doesn’t know one end of an alternator from another, backed up by a professor in ‘sustainability’, has been put in charge of planning the future of our country’s power infrastructure. Is it deliberate sabotage? Incompetence? Give us your thoughts below, and try to avoid using too many hurtful words. You know how sensitive these ‘progressives’ are.

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Talkshoppers will remember that our spurious leaders have handed that over to China last year:

Chancellor George Osborne has announced that the UK will guarantee a £2bn deal under which China will invest in the Hinkley Point nuclear power station.
Mr Osborne, who is in China, said the deal would pave the way for a final investment decision on the delayed project by French energy company EDF.
He said it would also enable greater collaboration between Britain and China on the construction of nuclear plants.
Reports suggest one such reactor could be built at Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex.
Energy Secretary Amber Rudd told the Financial Times she wanted Beijing to take the lead in developing new nuclear plants in Britain.
She said China was expected to lead the construction of a Beijing-designed nuclear station at the Essex site.

If my freezer is cold enough it powers down anyway – I think it is something to do with a device called a thermostat. I’d like to see the detailed calculations which make sense of this nonsense. And the cost of the smart metering programme? The lunatics really have taken over the asylum.

Demand reduction = price fuel and electricity so highly that people reduce heating so as to eat a little food to avoid starvation.
Six months ago on BBC parliament channel a group of civil servants and ministers concocted this approach.
They said it was the democratic method.
That is that the individual consumer can make their own choice about having to starve or freeze

Getting green=gullibles to produce any report on the power system is a bit like getting a vampire to run a blood bank – they won’t have the slightest interest in doing what is good for the consumer or the country.

it mentions nothing about demand management as one of the benefits. They say:

“Other benefits include accurate billing and no waiting in for the meter reader.”

I can’t remember the last time I had to wait in for a meter reader so still seems like rather a lot of money for something I can’t see myself ever needing. The energy companies may save money by reducing meter reading staff (shame about their jobs) and in theory that could be passed onto consumers (sound of flapping pig wings) but otherwise it’s difficult to see the payback to the public purse.

Anything as complicated as this for power distribution is doomed to fail
Its about time someone stood back and asked why ?
No security for the UK whatsoever
I know where I’ll be telling them to place their smart meter

“So there you have it. A vital function, headed up by a history graduate who doesn’t know one end of an alternator from another, backed up by a professor in ‘sustainability’, has been put in charge of planning the future of our country’s power infrastructure. Is it deliberate sabotage? Incompetence?”

“Here’s how it would work: At a time of peak demand, an energy firm’s computer will contact your smart freezer to ask if power can be switched off for a few minutes to allow your neighbour to use some of the energy to cook dinner.

Your well-insulated freezer will stay cold without electricity for a while, so it will agree to power down. ”

Ok the theory is good for newspapers and fairy tales.

26.5 million households in the UK, for simplicity lets say 4 major electrical appliances that’s over 100 million points of reference.

Each appliance needs detail of type, energy rating and status (0n, standby, off) to be included in the control program.

There would need to be a request to go off signal, specific to each supplier easily updated if the home owner switches supplier, moves home etc.

You would not want your appliance restricted by a supplier that you are not currently with.

Requests to turn off specific appliances for specific users would need to be logged to tally with the users bill and any benefits accrued for being a part of the scheme.

All electrical appliance manufacturers WORLDWIDE would need to adhere to the same standard for control principle, communications hardware and software for appliances sold in the UK/EU.

Only the big supply companies would even consider looking at this, regional and local suppliers wouldn’t have a chance.

The group that is going to control and organise this technological revolution is DECC…..

You may see this in Star Trek but you won’t see it here, it’s science fiction pure and simple.

From turning off your freezer to destroy the contents, to running the refrigerator in ice brick mode, to just blinking London lights in interesting patterns, what fun to be had!

Then there are those electric cars that “brick” if discharged too deeply (a mear $2k to $40k battery replacement) where plans are to simultaneously charge them at night for work the next day AND have them buffer supply acting as batteries when the wind doesn’t blow or solar is down due to it being (wait for it …) night…. Remote bricking via turning on the generate-don’t-store mode will be great fun…

‘Smart Meters are a surveillance device. They are a search without a warrant. They collect detailed energy usage, for instance: when you cook, watch TV, whether you are home or not, when you turn on a light, or if you have guests. This data is very valuable because it can reveal patterns about what you do and when.’http://emfsafetynetwork.org/smart-meters/

‘The Board of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine opposes the
installation of wireless smart meters in homes and schools based on a scientific
assessment of the current medical literature (references available on
request). Chronic exposure to wireless radio-frequency radiation is a preventable
environmental hazard that is sufficiently well documented to warrant immediate
preventative public health action.’http://emfsafetynetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/AAEM-Resolution.pdf

The AAEM also state: ‘Emissions given off by smart meters have been classified by the World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as a Possible Human Carcinogen.’
[pdf link above: March 4, 2016 at 4:52 pm]

Hi from Oz. Ahem – a couple of practical questions from an old geezer with 40+ years of IT and IOT(look it up) experience for your UK parliamentary stargazers: 1. How long will it take for the national fleet of domestic and commercial fridges, freezers and the like to need replacing? 2. When will these so-called ‘smart appliances’ be available, and at what cost? 3. How long will it take to upgrade the National Grid to perform clever tasks such as: Know enough about each and every installed “smart appliance” to know where it is, and for how long it can be safely turned off; Be able to talk securely to and from these millions of devices so as to enable this NG-saving miracle; 4. How much will all this cost the NG (or the long-suffering British Taxpayer)? Good luck with this guys, I think that you’ll need it!

If I get this right, the evening peak demand comes as people come home and plug their electric cars in for recharge, except the battery will be further drained by the grid to meet the peak evening demand.
The evening meal will take some time to cook as the ovens will be switched off. And it won’t be much fun to reach for a cold drink to have in front of the TV because the fridge will be warm from the food preparation and the TV will have been switched to standby.
It won’t do you any good to go to the pub or a restaurant as both those will be waiting for power.

But all will be well as you have bought a LITHIUM battery pack to store all that surplus PV solar power from your roof top installation in the middle of winter. Of course there is the possibility that all those new inter-connectors will supply surplus power from the Continent where, like the UK, there are no new power stations and precious few old ones left. Still in the remote chance that surplus power is available you will be able to draw enough to power your house for a few hours, except that most of that surplus will go to your neighbours.

So next morning, assuming you haven’t succumbed to botulism from the half cooked food you will spend an hour boiling your EU approved low powered kettle before you coax your car flat battery into “life”.

Some years ago, there was a trial installation of ‘smart meters’ in our suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. Supposed to shut off the water heater (by a signal) in load conditions. But the meters were read by a ‘Bluetooth’ message from a control vehicle patrolling the suburb, and SOMETHING WENT WRONG! A large number of meters started effectively continuously broadcasting on the public Bluetooth frequencies, thereby jamming gate, car and security alarm remotes! The meters all had to be reprogrammed, and after that, were no better than remote-read devices. Then the Jo’burg council fired the company that read the meters, so everyone got charged for estimated electricity consumption, and… etc, etc.
Not a good idea!